Corpse Harvest: The Scourge
by Pyro Flare
Summary: Part 2 of 5. Chelsea recently moved to the Sunshine Archipelago, which houses a small village with very friendly folk. Everything seems to be looking up for her, but she soon learns that the people of the islands have their fair share of secrets. To make things worse, a strange illness spreads across the town, turning the infected into zombies. Rated for language and violence.
1. Witches' Brew

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Most characters will be similar to how they would be in the games, with some embellishments here and there. But due to the nature of this story, some departures will occur.

A/N: Only around three months since I finished the first part, and the sequel comes out? I thought it'd take longer, too. Despite being a sequel, this takes place around the same time as the first story and can be standalone. So if you're a newcomer and clicked on this for some reason and actually read the author's note, then go ahead and dive in if you feel like it. I've barely played Sunshine Islands, but everyone seemed simple enough that I think I have a good grasp on them already. But enough of my rambling... read, review, and enjoy!

* * *

Corpse Harvest: The Scourge, Chapter 1:

Morgan looked up from the book she was reading and glanced out the window of her home. She absentmindedly stared at the waves crashing against the shore of the tiny island her house rested upon. She blew a strand of her curly hair that dared droop down into her face away and frowned. When was her sister going to get here?

She sighed and glanced over to the corner of the room, where her much younger niece, Eloise, was. The child was lying on her stomach, her legs dangling in the air as she stared down at the book that was currently capturing her attention. Morgan dearly hoped that book would continue to hold the young girl's attention.

Morgan took one last glance out of the window, intending for that to be the last before she returned to her research. This time, however, she saw a small rowboat in the distance approaching shore. She smiled and stood up from her chair.

"Eloise, Aunt Vivi is almost here!" Morgan exclaimed. The young girl immediately sprang to her feet and ran towards the door, cheering with excitement. Morgan opened it and exited the house, her niece in tow. The two stood next to the large stone that the boat would be tied to as it came closer and closer. Eloise was already waving, but as the passengers of the boat became visible, Eloise drew back and hid behind Morgan, peeking out from behind her legs.

"You can relax... that man she's with is bewitched. He doesn't know a thing that's going on," Morgan said, deducing what her sister had done to Kirk, the local ferryman around the archipelago. There would be no other way he would even know how to get here: this small island was shielded from the eyes of normal people by a magical barrier.

"It's so good to see you, sis!" Vivi exclaimed as the boat came to rest on shore. She hopped of the ferry, leaving the spellbound Kirk to quietly tie the boat to shore. The two witches embraced momentarily, and then Vivi leaned down to Eloise's level and grabbed her cheeks.

"And how could I forget my darling little Eloise?" she asked in a singsong manner as she tugged the child's face, much to her displeasure.

"Stop it, Aunt Viviiiiiii!" she cried out. Vivi giggled as she released the child from her torture.

"Please, come inside," Morgan said, walking to her home and opening the door. They entered, and Vivi took a seat as Morgan wandered over and began fetching things to make tea with.

"What's with all the frogs?" Vivi asked with a raised eyebrow as she looked around the house, seeing several frog stuffed animals and other varied frog paraphernalia.

"It's Mr. Froggie and his family!" Eloise exclaimed. "They want to meet you, Aunt Vivi!"

"Oh, I see. I'm a bit busy with your aunt right now, but I'll make sure to say hello later, okay?" Vivi said. Eloise pouted, but she didn't verbally complain and retreated back to a pile of frog toys to occupy herself as the adults discussed boring things.

"You're a bit late," Morgan stated as she continued preparing tea. "What took you so long?" she added, taking a glance at her younger sister.

"I had to think of a cover up story. Once I claimed I was visiting the islands and wanted a tour... the people around here are too friendly for my tastes. It took a while before that ferryman whisked me away to the other islands, but I took over and went right here. So the villagers think I am just on the tour of the archipelago, so we have plenty of time to talk," Vivi explained, lounging back in her chair and getting comfortable as she spoke.

"Have you thought this through completely? This isn't the only time you'll need to be here. You're going to need more excuses to explain your frequent absences," Morgan said as she started using a bit of magic to accelerate the tea making process. "I don't think you can keep using Kirk like that, either."

"Yeah, yeah," Vivi said dismissively. "I think you should tell me what's going on now. I don't even know why I'm here other than you needed to tell me in person."

"Who knows who may be listening to the phone lines," Morgan said. "I know for a fact nobody else is here except us three, so that's why I didn't explain much. But I know now how to get back at those who hurt Tabitha."

Vivi remained quiet and glanced down, pain in her eyes. Tabitha had been their eldest sister. Her magical ability had been discovered by those she lived with, and she was burned alive by the people she trusted. It had been a little over a year since she had been murdered, but the wounds were still fresh in the surviving sisters' hearts.

"What about mommy?" Eloise asked softly from her corner of the room. "Is she okay?"

"Y-yeah... keep playing..." Morgan said with sorrow and a hint of anger. Though Tabitha and her husband had been killed, their daughter managed to get away and escape. She managed to find her way to Morgan's old home and said Tabitha told her to run to her aunt's home before she was killed. Morgan took in her niece and moved to a more secluded area to escape any potential persecution, and she had been raising the child since. Eloise seemed to not know that her mother was dead... or at least was in denial of it.

"So... what are you planning, then? How do you expect to do anything with the Harvest Deities around?" Vivi asked.

"They won't be an issue," Morgan said with a smirk as she walked towards the table her sister was sitting at, two cups of tea in her hands. "I managed to seal them away. They won't be able to interfere, nor will their little helpers. It's only people we have to worry about."

"Sealed them away!? How did you do that?" Vivi asked with wonder.

"It wasn't easy," Morgan said as she sat down opposite from her sister and placed the tea cups on the table. "But I was determined. They were asking for it, condemning witchcraft in the teachings they passed down to their followers. They're just afraid we might get too powerful, I think. But enough about them."

Morgan took a drink of the tea and set the cup down. "I'm going to get back at the people they cherish so much. The people that hide behind smiling faces but would so easily drag one of our kind, screaming, straight to a pyre as soon as they learn we can use magic. I am going to develop a disease that will transform people into mindless monsters that will consume their own kind. Those killed will come back as another ravenous beast."

"So, zombies?" Vivi asked in a derisive manner that was almost a laugh. "I think you've been watching too many horror movies, sis!"

"I have not!" Morgan shouted, her face turning bright red. "I was first inspired from a passage in the Epic of Gilgamesh! I tried learning necromancy, but as an extinct school of magic, surviving texts were too difficult for even me to use. So I turned to voodoo and the fictional creature that stemmed from that. I think I can craft a plague that essentially makes people into zombies. I just need help from more than one witch, that's for sure."

"Hey! I'm a witch, too!" Eloise shouted angrily from the frog corner.

"It's not polite to eavesdrop!" Morgan returned with a chastising tone. She sighed and took another drink of tea. Eloise often bragged that she was the greatest witch there was. Morgan had to admit the young girl was talented, but she was nothing to bat an eye at compared to her aunts.

"I'll admit, you have me interested. You always were the most skilled out of us, and if you think this is possible..." Vivi said, trailing off before she took another sip of her tea.

Morgan smiled. "Excellent. I have a few potential concoctions that I need enchanted already. Do you want to help me and see if they work?"

"How will you know if we're successful? You're not going to test every single one on somebody, are you?" Vivi asked as she stood up.

"I'll be able to tell," Morgan answered dismissively.

* * *

The next few days proved to be difficult for the two witches. The few hours they had to test various potions that Morgan was brewing proved to be much more difficult than she anticipated. Even with their combined magical might, something would always go wrong. She would pour over her books once Vivi left and try her revised recipes upon her return, only for those to fail. Eloise would constantly add to the maddening frustration by complaining about her aunt not playing with her or offering to help in a very whiny manner.

"At this point, I'd even ask that stupid wizard for help!" Vivi cried out in exasperation around the fourth day.

"...Wizard? Is there something you haven't been telling me?" Morgan asked with a growl in the back of her throat. A third magic wielder would make this much easier.

"Ugh, not him!" Vivi exclaimed with disgust.

"Are you aware that if we had a third person ABLE TO USE MANY KINDS OF MAGICS," Morgan said, glancing at Eloise and accentuating those words to let her know that she was not skilled enough to apply to what she was saying, "that we could very well be done with this by now?"

"But Gale is weird! He's all quiet and I don't think he'd agree with this at all!"

"Please... just ask him," Morgan pleaded with a sigh. She was tired of failure.

"Fine..." Vivi whined as she left the house in a huff. "It'll be a day or two before I can get back to you, though!" she called out from outside.

"That's fine... I need to take a break from this..." Morgan murmured to herself.

"When do I get to play with Aunt Vivi?" Eloise asked with a grouchy tone. "Mr. Froggie _still_ hasn't met her yet!" Morgan sighed once more. Her suffering would never end.

* * *

Morgan relaxed as she waited for word from her sister again. That is, she relaxed to the extent that living with the trouble that was Eloise allowed. Her optimism grew when Vivi called, only for it to be shut down when she said that the wizard would just consider the offer. Morgan was insistent that her sister tell this wizard where she lived in case he actually agreed to things. With that done, Vivi had returned the next day and they were back to unsuccessfully trying to create various zombie potions. The first failure frustrated Morgan so much that she called the experiments off for the day and finally let Eloise have her fun with Vivi.

The next day they were surprised when there was a knock on their door. When Morgan opened it she was greeted to the sight of a russet-skinned man with gray hair.

"WHAT!? You actually showed up!?" Vivi exclaimed with shock when she saw the man.

"I said that I would consider it," the wizard named Gale said as he entered the building.

"But you're on better terms with the townspeople! That Angela girl seems to like you, too!"

"They... are inconsequential. I will help you two design this disease."

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Morgan asked the man. She noticed now that one of his eyes was a different color: an unnaturally bright yellow. It unnerved her to look into that eye.

"I am," Gale replied curtly. With that, the three magic users got to work. Eloise stayed out of their way, because the presence of the stranger unnerved her.

Gale proved to be just as skilled in the magic arts as Morgan. She thought the wizard was more skilled than she was, but when she tried to compliment him, he turned down her praises by saying that he would not be able to seal away deities like she did. With his assistance, actual progress was being made. In just two days, Morgan could tell that the concoction they were brewing would be able to function how she desired with just a few more ingredients.

It was at this point that Gale spoke up about the function of this magical poison. He had inferred that it would take some time from the introduction of the substance into the human body before they would transform into a zombie. He desired a far more potent solution that had a much faster transformation time. Morgan wrote that off as foolish- there was a reason normal diseases took as long as they did before they manifested. Near-instant zombification would give little chance for the disease to spread. Both were insistent that their method was better, and Vivi didn't have any helpful input. The argument was heating up, and it looked like it was about to blow...

"Why not both? You won't mess up each other, because that man isn't from around here anyway!" Eloise suggested.

"That... sounds agreeable," Gale admitted in his same near-monotone voice, which had the same volume throughout the entire argument.

"Yes... thank you, Eloise," Morgan said with a sigh of relief and a smile towards her niece before she turned back to the two adults. "But... surely you don't think going at the same time is a good idea?"

"We would have no idea which potion would be more effective if that was the case. Someone needs to infect their home village first," Gale said.

"We're not having another argument!" Vivi snapped as she fished into the pockets of her skirt, producing a coin. "We're flipping a coin! I'm going to help out who wins, because I want to see this first hand! Heads my sister goes first, tails means Gale goes first!"

She chucked the coin in the air and caught it before flipping it over and slapping it on the back of her other hand. Lifting her hand showed the coin proudly displaying its tail end.

"That settles it, then. I won't need to be an active part of infecting Harmonica Town. My crystal ball shows me that there is someone in that town with a pitch black heart. I'm sure they will be more than happy to help. You can assist that person, Vivi, and I will observe from the shadows," Gale said. Vivi had no objections, and it was not long before Gale was given a bottle containing his version of the zombie disease.

Morgan and Eloise bade their farewells to Vivi and Gale as they set off back to Harmonica Town to start the first outbreak. Morgan had her doubts that it would work, even though she was absolutely positive that it would. She wanted to test her version of the disease to remove those doubts from her mind, but she had to be patient.

That night, she was awoken by a phone call from her sister. "It works! You're amazing, sis!" was all that she said before hanging up. Morgan was relieved, and rolled back over to sleep. It wasn't until the next day that the itch of impatience reared its ugly head. She tried to stave it off as long as she could, but her trigger finger was too achy.

She made up her mind. Tomorrow she will use her own potion. With an invisibility spell cloaking her presence, it would be easy enough to sneak into town and contaminate the two main eateries in town. This wouldn't infect all of the people on the islands, but it would get a significant portion of them. Then, by nightfall, the chaos would begin...


	2. Another Day in Paradise

Corpse Harvest: The Scourge, Chapter 2:

Chelsea stepped outside after tying her favorite red bandana around the top of her head. A breeze whipped her long hair about, and she brushed it out of her eyes once it subsided. It was probably silly of her to work out in the fields with her hair let loose like this, but she found its length helpful. When her hair would start to cling to her skin and clothes, damp with sweat, she knew that it was time to go inside and take a break.

She was still new to the farming experience. Just a week ago she was stuck in the suburban sprawl, living with her parents and working a dead end job for minimum wage. She didn't believe her eyes when she saw the advertisement for the farm that was now her property. The land was very cheap, and it would be her own little chunk of paradise since her new home was on an island.

It was a bit reckless for her to purchase the property, but she wanted to escape the hustle and bustle of her old life. She had always enjoyed gardening and tending to pets, so she figured that maybe the farmer life was the one for her after all.

She began tending to her crops as she continued to reflect upon her new life here. It was certainly a shock to go from the suburbs to a small island chain with only a few people, but the archipelago was comfortable and the people were very friendly.

One in particular had been an immense help in getting her farming career started. His name was Mark, and he was a former farmer himself. She didn't know why he didn't currently own a farm himself, but he said he had been traveling around, looking for a place to settle down. Regardless, his experience in the past was a great help. She would have been overwhelmed without his help.

Mark was going to stop by soon and help her get her first farm animal to take care of. Chelsea was aiming high by wanting to buy a cow or a horse, but Mark talked her down to getting the feel of things by taking care of some chickens first.

"Hard at work, I see," she heard Mark ask from behind her. She yelped in fright as she was snapped out of her work-induced trance, spilling some of the water from her watering can as she stumbled about and tried to regain her footing.

"Uh... whoops," Mark added with a sheepish grin as Chelsea snapped her head towards him with a fierce glare.

"Yes. Yes I am," Chelsea replied matter-of-factly as she sprinkled a little bit more water on the crop she was watering. She set down the can, "And now I'm done taking care of the crops for now."

"Then it looks like I have good timing."

"No. If you did, you wouldn't have scared me like that, you asshole," Chelsea said as she playfully stuck out her tongue and poked him in the chest.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'll make it up to you. Are you ready to get your first chicken now?" he asked, taking off his cap to scratch his blond hair. She always found it amusing when he did this, because the fringe that poked out of the size adjustment part of the cap always retained the same shape, even when the cap was slipped back on.

"Yeah, we might as well. I've been thinking over some good names for my first hen. It's going to be tough to pick one," Chelsea said as they started to walk to town.

"You're going to need more chickens than one if you want to make some money from them. Those other names aren't going to go to waste," Mark said.

"But I'm on a budget here! There's not going to be more chickens for a while."

"Fair enough..." Mark said with a shrug. They had crossed the bridge to Verdure Island, one of the two neighboring islands that made up the "town" of the Sunshine Archipelago, so to speak. As they did, they saw Natalie on the porch of their family's home with a broom. Chelsea waved at her. The girl made a small glance at them, but said nothing as she returned to her sweeping.

"She could have at least waved at us," Chelsea said with a small frown as they continued walking to the animal store. They walked inside, a bell ringing as they opened the door.

"Hello, Mark and Chelsea! What brings you two here today?" greeted the portly owner of the animal store, Mirabelle, with a warm smile.

"Hi, Mirabelle! Where's Julia? Is she out back?" Chelsea asked, looking around the store for Mirabelle's daughter, who was quickly becoming a good friend.

"She's out in town picking up some groceries. I'll let her know you stopped by. Was that all you came here for?"

"No, actually. We're here to buy a chicken so Chelsea can get some experience in raising animals," Mark said.

"Oh, how delightful! Chickens are a good place to start off. Just pay me up front and I'll take you back to my coop so you can pick a little darling out!" Mirabelle exclaimed with joy.

"Right," Mark said, reaching into a pocket. He frowned and said, "Oh, shoot. I must have left my wallet back at the inn."

"What? Oh, you don't need to pay, Mark! I got this," Chelsea said.

"No, no. I said I'll make it up to you for earlier, remember? This one's on me."

"If you insist..." Chelsea said with a sigh as she rolled her eyes, but she was thankful for Mark's charity. "Don't keep me waiting for too long!"

"Right!" Mark exclaimed as he left Mirabelle's store. He'd have to bump into a lot of chatty people for the trip back to his hotel room to take long at all. Mirabelle's store was right next to the bridge to the neighboring Sprout Island, and the inn was the very first building there.

He stepped inside, and saw the owner of the inn at her usual spot behind the receptionist's desk. She was reading a book while also enjoying some lunch. Takeout from Nick's Diner, from the looks of it.

"Did you forget something, Mark?" she asked, looking up from her book. Earlier he had said he was going to help out that new Chelsea girl on her farm. Surely he wouldn't be back so soon if that were the case.

"Yeah... just my wallet," he admitted as he rushed up the stairs to his room. As he entered, the wallet was immediately visible on next to the lamp, as if it were mocking him. He grabbed the wallet, stuffed it into his pants pocket, and was on his way out of the inn almost as soon as he entered.

"Later, Carol," he quickly said as he left and jogged back to Mirabelle's store. He took his wallet out right before he entered the store, triumphantly holding his wallet up to the air.

"I have returned!" he declared as he walked up to Mirabelle and slapped some bills down on the counter near the cash register.

"Thanks for the chicken... doofus," Chelsea said, giggling at her friend's antics.

"Alright, with that settled, follow me out back," Mirabelle said, motioning for them to follow her behind the counter. They exited out of the back of the store, and a large barn and coop was all that was in this little outcropping of the island.

"Whoa, look at all the chickens!" Chelsea exclaimed as they entered the coop, which was rife with the sound of poultry.

"Almost any of them are yours! So long as they aren't any of my prize chickens, of course!" Mirabelle exclaimed over the din of the birds.

Chelsea browsed through the crowd of chickens until a brown hen caught her eye. She didn't know what drew her to this particular chicken, but she knew that this would be the one she picked.

"I want this one!" she called out as she grabbed the chicken and picked it up. Thankfully it wasn't too fussy and settled with the prospect of being carried rather quickly.

"It's yours, then! Do you have any feed for it?" Mirabelle said.

"Yeah, there are some bags of feed already in her coop," Mark said. With that, they bade farewell to Mirabelle and started heading back to Chelsea's farm.

"So, did you pick out a name for it?" Mark asked.

"Cluckers!" Chelsea exclaimed.

"_That_ was your best name out of the many you had trouble picking from? And _I'm_ the doofus?" Mark asked with a smile.

"I'll throw Cluckers at your face!" Chelsea warned.

As they were about to head towards the bridge to the island holding Chelsea's farm, they crossed paths with Alisa, a priestess of the Harvest Goddess. She didn't leave the church often, at least Chelsea thought so. This was the first time she saw her out in town.

"Hi, Alisa! What are you doing out and about today?" Mark asked.

"Um... h-hi, Mark..." she muttered quietly as she glanced at Chelsea. "Just... getting some things... excuse me."

The redheaded girl walked past them, her head bowed towards the ground.

"What's with her?" Chelsea asked, taking a glance back at her.

"Alisa's just a bit shy around new people. She's real friendly once she warms up to you," Mark said. She had a hard time believing that from how the girl just acted.

Once they returned to the farm, they put Cluckers in the coop and Mark began coaching Chelsea all he knew about caring for chickens. It didn't take too long for her to pick up the ins and outs of the process, but she had to curb her enthusiasm in expanding her coop with more chickens. Patience wasn't her strong suit, but she had to pace herself with the budget she was on, at least until she started to make a profit off of her crops.

After the lesson, Mark bid her farewell and started to leave. Chelsea offered him lunch before he left, but he seemed like he needed to take care of something, so she let him go. She fixed herself a sandwich to sate her hunger, remarking at how there was still plenty of time left in the day as she ate it. She expected that Mark's lessons would have taken up more time, so now her day was open.

This would have never happened in her old life, where she barely had time to do anything she enjoyed. This change of pace was rather jarring- especially in moments like these where she suddenly had an expanse of free time before her. She couldn't complain, for this change was a very welcome one.

Chelsea stretched as she stood up from her kitchen chair and walked outside, feeling with cool sea breeze wash over her. This was the life.


	3. The Coward's Dilemma

Corpse Harvest: The Scourge, Chapter 3:

Elliot did his best to look away from the mirror as he brushed his teeth and got ready for the day. He hadn't felt like facing himself these last few days. Seeing his own haggard eyes only made him feel worse.

He had been struggling with feelings of depression for the last week. The stagnation of his life was finally catching up to him. He was growing sick of how repetitive the island life was and how restrained he was by the surrounding ocean. He yearned to move away from the island, but there were several worries that shackled him to its shores.

One of them was the feeling that his family would scorn him if he decided to leave. He walked over to the kitchen after finishing brushing his teeth. His mother had already prepared breakfast, and he sat down at the table, quietly staring at his food as he waited for his sister and grandfather to arrive. He knew they would be the most critical if he tried to leave.

"Dear... is something the matter?" his mom asked him with a worried expression. She seemed to be the only person that could pick up on his inner turmoil. This should have made it easier for Elliot to speak up about what was bothering him, but trepidation always held his words back.

"Nothing... just tired..." he responded flatly. It bothered him how quickly the lies could slip out despite the truth clawing to be free. His mother bit her lip but kept quiet. Soon Natalie and Taro entered the kitchen and started to eat.

Natalie would remain quiet, as she was prone to do. The only real conversationalists were his mother and grandfather. Felicia would often talk about the word around the village, thanks to her frequent gossiping with Mirabelle. Currently, she was keeping quiet herself because of her concern about her son. This just left his grandfather, who always gave his family time to give the first word.

"Awful quiet," Taro said, looking up from his meal at the glum faces his family wore. "Cheer up, everyone! We have a big shipment of fresh vegetables coming in!"

"That's lovely news!" Felicia exclaimed, glad that someone had something nice to say.

This only discouraged Elliot further. He never liked it when the big shipments came in. He always felt like he was going to screw up and make a mistake. It wasn't a common occurrence for him to make a mess or break something on accident, but all of the flak his sister and grandfather gave him when it happened made it feel like he was a failure, always on the verge of hurting the family business with his clumsiness.

This would push him towards leaving if he wasn't the only man in the house. He didn't consider himself fit by any means, but he was still stronger than the rest of his family. His grandfather was getting too old to do most of the heavy lifting, and his mother and sister weren't strong enough to handle heavier packages. If they worked together, then maybe... no, he only felt selfish thinking of things like that. The family relied on him for the shipping business, and he would feel guilty if he let them down by leaving.

He snapped out of his thoughts when Taro told him to get ready to help get the packages outside and put them into the storage area. Though he had many words of protest from how he was currently feeling, they all went unsaid as he excused himself from the table and went outside.

A boat could be seen on the horizon, sailing away from the archipelago. Several boxes of varying sizes had been set down in their small backyard close to the shore. Natalie and Taro were outside, and Taro had a clipboard in his hands.

"I'm going to jot down what we've got in these shipments. You two move them to the storehouse once I've looked at them," Taro said.

It wasn't too difficult of a job (especially with his sister's help), but it was certainly a tedious one. Elliot made sure not to stumble any. He'd never hear the end of it if he dropped a box and it landed on Natalie's toe. Once all the boxes were put away, it was time to get what vegetables were needed to stock the shelves inside for the villagers that didn't grow their own food. This job was interspersed with having to stop and pack up the goods that the various villagers wanted to ship out of the islands. These orders would show up as they were dropped off or collected from various bins around the islands.

At some point, Julia came in to buy some groceries. Elliot's heart always beat heavily when she was nearby. He had a mad crush on the animal store's daughter, and he doubted that she even knew his feelings for her. It was for the best that she didn't know. Julia was bound not to accept them. He wanted to cast his love for her away, but it clung to him like all of his other negative feelings, further weighing him down and causing him to sink into the depths of despair.

Briefly seeing Julia had locked his mind on her for the rest of the day. He felt as if he was drifting through a sea of dreams as he absentmindedly carried out his work, thinking of both positive and negative fantasies with his crush. They often intertwined, for he had little hope that her heart would ever belong to him.

He slipped out of his daydreams when he felt himself begin to stumble. Quickly ascertaining his current situation showed that he was putting a box up on a top shelf in the storage room. He tried to stabilize the tipping ladder, but it was too late. He tumbled to the ground, pulling the ladder with him on his way down.

"Ow..." he groaned as pain shot through his leg, arm, and head. He reached around for his glasses and put them on. He felt his mood sink as he saw a yolky mess of several dozen cracked eggs before him. His clumsiness had just ruined this fresh shipment of eggs from Mirabelle's farm.

"What happened!?" he heard Natalie exclaim as she ran into the storage room. Her anxious face quickly turned into a sharp glare. "Really!? I can't believe you!" she indignantly exclaimed.

He then proceeded to get chewed out by both his sister and grandfather, making him feel even worse. Again, he was caught with the feeling of running away all while being chained to home. How could he possibly survive out there by himself? Even with instructions to follow, he still screwed up! Nobody would ever hire someone as clumsy as him, and he had no clue how to live by himself...

He wanted to go apologize to Mirabelle, but Taro wasn't having that. He was right to doubt him... he would likely just screw that up, too. He certainly didn't want to stay around at home with half of his family mad at him. Now that he was disbarred from working for the day, he had only one place in mind that would give him a semblance of escape from his miserable life.

It was the cafe on the isle. Haila was a wonderful chef, and she had some excellent sweets that were sure to drown out his sorrows, if only for a bit. Normally his mother would be here with Mirabelle, but that wouldn't be the case due to his fiasco. He felt bad that he was taking advantage of the terrible situation he caused Mirabelle, but what was another bad feeling added on top of the pile?

"Oh my, is something the matter?" Haila asked when she saw him. Elliot figured that his mood was starting to leak out of him.

"Yeah... I don't feel like talking about it, sorry. Just give me some of those cupcakes," Elliot said, pointing towards the tantalizing treats that were calling to him. He paid for the cupcakes, and sat down to eat them. Just as his luck would have it, Julia walked in the cafe. As if she needed to see him looking like a slob as he downed a bunch of cupcakes by himself. She seemed to pay him no mind and he didn't know if that made him feel better (considering his current situation) or worse. She just bought a pie for takeout (likely for her mother) and was about to leave, but she paused and took a glance in his direction.

"You have a bit of a mess on your face," she said with a small smile.

"Oh... probably," Elliot replied with embarrassment as he pushed up his glasses. "Where?"

"A little bit around... here," Julia said, taking a hand and rubbing it all around her mouth. She began to laugh as Elliot turned a deep shade of red and began to wipe all of the icing off of his face.

"H-How did I have _that_ much without noticing!?" he exclaimed once he looked at the napkin.

"That's Haila for you," Julia said. "My mom would probably be a lot skinnier if this place wasn't around," she added, motioning to the bag in her hands that contained the pie.

"She agrees!" Haila chimed in with a laugh.

Elliot's heart was racing at this moment. Julia had seen him in an embarrassing moment, and she didn't seem to take it badly. She also had to have known that he broke their shipment of eggs... right? Guilt started tearing away at him. He couldn't just let that remain quiet if she didn't know.

"You know about the mess I caused, right?" Elliot asked with shame.

"Yeah... it's fine, really. Taro is the only one that's mad."

"R-Really?"

"Your mom and my mom talk all the time. Apparently you've been down for a while. What's up?" she asked.

"I... well..." he stammered. "I've... just... had a lot on my mind."

"I know how that is..." Julia said with a sad sigh and a distant gaze.

"You do?"

"Yeah... and I haven't really had anyone to talk to. Well, there's my mom... but I keep quiet because I don't know what she'd think if I told her."

"I'm going through the same thing," Elliot said, suddenly feeling more comfortable around Julia now that she at least had some semblance of the problem he was facing.

"I really think we should talk about this. It'll help both of us out, I feel. But unfortunately I have to get back home and help my mom out. Are you busy tomorrow?"

"Um... I don't think grandpa will want me in storage, so I'll probably be cleaning the whole home as punishment for today... but I don't think that will take all day."

"Okay, just stop on by when you're done. See you tomorrow!" Julia exclaimed as she waved goodbye and left the store. Elliot gave her a small, unsure wave. Was something good actually happening to him for once?

He finished his cupcakes and returned home. Fortunately his family wasn't in the main room when he got back, so he quietly slipped into his room and decided to get away from things and read a book until night fell. He started feeling a bit ill just after the sun went down, so he decided to turn in early. Hopefully he wouldn't be sick by tomorrow...

* * *

Elliot awoke in a hot sweat feeling very queasy. He got out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom to vomit. He lamented that he had become sick once he had woken up enough to register what was going on. Of course that bit of good luck with Julia was just a fluke; a trick to raise his hopes up before making them crash down.

He turned on the light in the bathroom and knelt down in front of the toilet, the vomit rushing to escape his body. It felt painful as he retched and hurled, and he suddenly felt very faint and weak once he had stopped. He glanced down into the mess floating in the water. Why was there so much blood in there?

He then made a few deep shaking coughs that produced more blood. He tried registering what was happening to him, but he suddenly fainted. He would not wake back up as himself.

* * *

Felicia was stirred from her sleep by the unmistakable sounds of someone vomiting. _Oh dear..._ she thought as she stood up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. It sounded horrible. She was worried that it was her dad until she heard the coughing and recognized it as Elliot. Come to think of it, he was in his room after leaving. Maybe he fell earlier because he had gotten sick?

She left her room and walked to the bathroom. He hadn't closed the door, since the light from the room was illuminating the house.

"Elliot dear, is everything okay?" she asked. She didn't hear a response, so she walked closer and saw him standing in a slouched position, his back turned to her. He was moaning lowly. Oh, the poor thing... he must be feeling awful!

"I'm here to help, Elliot," she said in a soothing voice. Her son turned around, and she knew right away that something was dreadfully wrong. Chills shot through her entire body when she saw that her son's eyes were a cold, snowy white.

"E-Elliot?" she asked with fright.


	4. Petals in the Wind

A/N: This story's mainly improvised at this point. Any suggestions for characters to focus on for the upcoming chapters will be appreciated. If none arrive, I'll just randomly pick.

* * *

Corpse Harvest: The Scourge, Chapter 4:

Julia currently lay in her bed, starting up at the ceiling fan slowly turning. Her head had been swimming in thoughts, yet it also felt like she was just staring blankly upward with the sheer amount of noise all of her thoughts were making. Normally at this time in the morning she would be helping her mother tend to the animals, but she told her that she wasn't feeling too well at breakfast.

She felt a bit guilty lying to her mother like that, but part of her knew that it wasn't really a lie. A lot of things had been going through her mind recently. Unanswered questions from her past and uncertain thoughts about the future constantly tormented her. She didn't know what triggered this recent storm, but she was already drowning in what it wrought.

Sick of the din inside of her head, she reluctantly crawled out of bed and looked around the house for her mother. She wasn't there, so she went out back and saw her tending to the animals.

"I think I just need some fresh air and a good walk. Is there anything you need from town?" Julia weakly asked.

"Oh! Are you sure you're well enough to walk so much, dear?" Mirabelle asked.

"Yeah..." Julia muttered quietly.

"Okay then... let me get a shopping list if you're offering to help," her mother said as she went back inside. Julia followed her, and as soon as she entered her house her mother already had a list in front of her. Julia took it without a word and walked out of the house, pausing to take a few deep breaths as she eyed the contents of the list.

"Of course..." she sighed, rolling her eyes at her mother's addiction. The few items on the list were easily obtained from Chen's store or Taro's shipping company. But the last item was a pie from Haila's cafe. She remembered a time when her mother was thin. That was long ago, before she got hooked on sweets.

That was also when dad was around...

"Is something the matter, dear?" Mirabelle asked her daughter upon seeing her sudden despondency.

"Nothing... I'll be back soon," Julia muttered as she left her home. It wasn't the fact that her father left them when she was very young that brought her down. She had a happy enough childhood with just her mother. It was the fact that she didn't have a single clue what kind of man he was. Her memories of him were so long ago that she barely knew what he looked like anymore. Mirabelle never brought him up or she changed the subject all the time. Julia had been complacent in the early stages of her life, but her mother's avoidance just became more and more frustrating as time went on.

It wasn't that long of a trip either way, but she went past Chen's store for now, saving it for the return trip from Taro's store. Getting her mother's pie would be saved for later, if she even felt like getting it. She stopped in front of the door to Taro's house, taking a deep breath to calm down. Just because she was pissed at her mother right now didn't mean it was fair to withhold her dessert...

She entered the store and was greeted by Felicia. Natalie was present, her back leaning up against the store's counter as she ate a sandwich. She glanced up at Julia, but said nothing more.

"Honey, don't be rude!" Felicia chastised her.

"It would be rude for me to talk with my mouth full!" she quipped back before she had finished chewing.

"Morning... I think?" Julia said, trying to prevent an argument between the two. It was now that she saw the clock and noticed that it was mid-afternoon. "Looks like I slept in a bit," she remarked with a smile.

"Is there anything we can help you with?" Felicia asked with a bright smile.

"Just picking up a few fruits and vegetables," Julia said as she walked over to the display set up and took a basket off of the counter. This used to just be a shipping company for a while, but since Taro acted as a middle man between the villagers and shipments, he decided to set up a little store here. It didn't have as much variety as Chen's store (but then, who could?), but it did have some stuff you wouldn't find elsewhere on the island or the neighboring villages on the mainland.

It was not long before the basket was filled with most of the things her mother requested. She paid for them and walked out of the store with the paper bag that now held them.

"Hold up," she heard Natalie say as she walked out of their home. Julia turned around to see the pink-haired girl walking towards her.

"Yes?"

"My brother made me swear to never tell anyone else this, but he's been really mopey lately," Natalie started.

"Well then why are you going to tell me? Isn't that going to make him feel worse?" Julia interrupted.

"Because you're the only one that can help him out. Let me finish!" she snapped back, placing her hands on her hips and leaning forward. "He has a mad crush on you! I don't care if you like him that way or not, but I think you talking to him could help lift his mood."

Before Julia could ask her any more, Natalie had turned around and was already heading back inside. She ignored the rude girl and stood there for a bit, reflecting on this revelation. She honestly had no clue that Elliot saw her in that way. He was always shy around her, sure, but she just figured that was the kind of person he was.

She started walking to Chen's store, still lost in thought. How exactly should she handle this? For some reason, romance never really occurred to her. To be more accurate, it had, but she always set thoughts like that aside for when she left the island. But that was one of the things that had been troubling her recently. She was in her early twenties, and here she was, still living with her mother on the islands.

"Welcome, Julia. Is there anything I can help you with?" Chen asked as she walked into his store. She didn't even register that he had said anything until he added, "Julia?"

"I'm fine..." she mumbled as she quickly sought out the groceries her mother requested. A foreigner to the islands would have a hard time navigating Chen's store, which was a mishmash of various deli and dairy products, tools and some appliances, and some Chinese foodstuffs as well.

"Are you feeling well?" Chen asked as Julia paid for the groceries.

"I just need some time to myself..." she said as she handed over the money and took the second paper bag handed to her. Since she lived right next door, she would drop off the groceries before crossing over to Sprout Island to pick up the pie her mother wanted.

"Back so soon?" her mother asked as she entered the house.

"Almost," Julia responded as she set the paper bags on the table and opened the fridge to make a sandwich. "I'm not balancing that pie on top of either of those bags."

"And the sandwich?"

"I'm hungry."

"Well, you should have come down and had breakfast then!"

Julia sighed, sensing that things were about to turn into a mild argument that she really didn't feel like engaging in, but there was suddenly a terse knock at the door. Julia silently thanked the Goddess for the intervention as her mother answered it and stepped outside.

She thought she would be able to enjoy her sandwich in peace and quiet, but mom and the mystery guest were quite close to the door. From the sounds of it, the person who knocked on the door was Taro, and he sounded quite irate about something. From what she could make out, it sounded like Elliot accidentally broke their shipment of eggs. She didn't hear her mother much during this conversation, so apparently she was taking it well.

"What was that all about?" Julia asked when her mother went back inside. She was relayed what Taro had said, confirming that her guess had been correct. Her mother wondered why the old man was in such a fuss over a shipment that was smaller than usual.

"Well... I guess I'll get your pie now," Julia said as she finished the sandwich and downed a glass of water. "Be back soon,"

As she walked to Haila's Cafe, Julia's mind trailed off once more to the uncertainties in her future. She didn't want to live on these islands forever, that she felt for sure... but when would she go? She was too used to the comforts of her home, too used to her mother supporting her. How could she possibly find her own way out there in the world? Where would she go? What would she do?

She entered the cafe and strolled up to the counter, still half within her own little world. She ordered her mother's favorite pie and soon was given a bag. She turned around to go home, but she saw that Elliot was in the cafe as well. Fate seemed to guide her towards him, it seemed. The boy looked just as miserable as she did... only there was tons of icing on his face from the cupcakes he was scarfing down. She couldn't help but smile at this.

"You have a bit of a mess on your face," she said as she walked towards him. The boy was understandably flustered when she pointed out that the icing was all over his mouth.

"H-How did I have _that_ much without noticing!?" he exclaimed once he looked at the napkin.

"That's Haila for you," Julia said. "My mom would probably be a lot skinnier if this place wasn't around," she added, motioning to the bag in her hands that contained the pie.

"She agrees!" Haila chimed in with a laugh.

It was at this moment that Julia decided to try and talk with Elliot about the hardships in their life. She had no romantic inklings towards him, but she could see just from the way he looked that he was down. Natalie had suggested to talk to him, and maybe this could do both of them some good.

"You know about the mess I caused, right?" Elliot asked with shame. Why was he bringing that up?

"Yeah... it's fine, really. Taro is the only one that's mad," she replied.

"R-Really?" Elliot responded, his posture perking up as if someone had lifted a heavy burden from his back.

"Your mom and my mom talk all the time. Apparently you've been down for a while. What's up?" Julia asked, changing the subject and quickly thinking of a way to cover up that Natalie had given her the heads up.

"I... well..." he stammered. "I've... just... had a lot on my mind."

"I know how that is..." she said with a sad sigh and a distant gaze.

"You do?" Once again he perked up.

"Yeah... and I haven't really had anyone to talk to. Well, there's my mom... but I keep quiet because I don't know what she'd think if I told her." That wasn't necessarily the case, but she would have to bring up dad at some point...

"I'm going through the same thing," Elliot said.

"I really think we should talk about this. It'll help both of us out, I feel. But unfortunately I have to get back home and help my mom out. Are you busy tomorrow?"

"Um... I don't think grandpa will want me in storage, so I'll probably be cleaning the whole home as punishment for today... but I don't think that will take all day."

"Okay, just stop on by when you're done. See you tomorrow!" Julia exclaimed as she waved goodbye and left the store. Elliot gave her a small, unsure wave.

_He looks like he's having it harder than I am..._ Julia thought as she walked back to her home with the pie in tow. As she did so, she considered trying to bridge her worries by finally bringing up some of them to her mother. It was a bit scary, but she didn't want to keep feeling like this.

"I'm back," Julia announced as she stepped inside her home and placed the pie on the counter. She figured that her mother was outside tending to the animals, but it didn't help to bring attention to her arrival.

"Hooray! My pie is here!" her mother exclaimed from the other room, surprising Julia as she rushed over to the pie. She got a fork, knife, and plate as she started to cut herself a piece. Julia couldn't help but smile at her mother's enthusiasm, but that smile quickly faded as she thought of asking her about the sensitive subject of her future.

"What is it? I know you have _something_ troubling you. You can talk to me, honey," Mirabelle said after chewing her first bite of the pie.

"Do I have to stay on the island forever?" Julia asked, thrusting the question out there before she could retract it.

"Hmm... normally I'd ask what would bring this up, but you're certainly old enough," Mirabelle said. "But of course you don't have to stay here forever! I know you'll miss the animals, and they'll certainly miss you, but you deserve to live your own life, sweetie. You don't have to be in my shadow."

Julia gave out a sigh of relief. "I was worried you wouldn't be supportive of that."

"Why on earth would I not support my daughter?"

"I don't know... I just don't have any idea what to do with my life. I'm too used to living here, but I just can't stay here forever, you know? And there's one other thing that's been bugging me..."

"Yes?"

Here it comes...

"What about dad? I don't know anything about him! I know you have some bad blood from how you always stop talking when he's brought up, but he might be able to hel-"

"Drop this conversation. Now," Mirabelle commanded with a scowl. Julia's mouth hung open in shock as she was cut off.

"I can't _believe_ you! You _just_ said you would support me, but as soon as I bring up dad, someone who could be able to help, you shut your mouth!" Julia shouted indignantly.

Mirabelle turned her back to Julia and crossed her arms.

"Grow up already! We can resume this talk when you stop acting like a child! This is about me, _not_ about you!" Julia yelled before she stomped off to her room and slammed the door. She crumpled onto her bed and screamed into her pillow, her rage quickly subsiding as she lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling. Once again she was alone with nothing but the droning of her many thoughts breaking the silence...

* * *

Julia was jolted out of her sleep by a sudden loud bang at her door. She sat up in her bed, clutching her head as she shook off the grogginess. _Did I doze off? How much time has passed?_

Before she could glance at the clock to answer that question, another loud bang came from her door, causing her to jump slightly. What was going on?

She then heard her mother lowly groaning from the other side of the door as she pounded on it once more. Was she _drunk?_

"This is ridiculous, mom! Why would you drink yourself to a stupor over me just _mentioning_ dad!?" Julia exclaimed as she got out of bed and walked to the door.

Her mom began to groan louder and pound on the door faster and harder. She wasn't even saying any words! Just how wasted _was_ she? The intensity of the blows was starting to worry her...

"Mom? MOM, JUST STOP IT!" Julia yelled. Right after she did, the door burst open, the inner latch of the doorknob finally giving way to the force of the blows.

Mirabelle stood in the doorway, her hands visibly red from the strength she was putting into her blows. She didn't look angry at all. She just coldly stared ahead at Julia, her mouth agape. It was then that Julia noticed that her mom's shining blue eyes were now a blank white. This sent chills up her spine.

Mirabelle moaned once more as she shambled towards her daughter. For Julia, this nightmare had just begun...


	5. The Black Cat

Corpse Harvest: The Scourge, Chapter 5:

Sabrina sighed as she pushed up her slouching glasses that mirrored her position above the keyboard on her desk. It was another one of those days where she had to record the transactions from all of the overseas branches of her father's company. While her father had not expanded to other continents, anything outside of the headquarters on the archipelago was literally overseas. She usually didn't mind her role in managing these aspects of her father's mining corporation, but when things got busy, she really wished her father hired more people to work at the company headquarters other than... well, him and her. But Regis had always been an eccentric man... not even his wealth could keep mother around with the way he acted.

She wondered if her father could ever see how inefficient having the headquarters of the company like this was. Understaffed and secluded really wasn't a great way to run things in her opinion, but she usually kept to herself about things. Being painfully shy was the curse that Sabrina had to endure.

She perked up when she heard her cell phone vibrate on her desk. Only two people texted her: her mother and Vaughn. More likely than not, it was Vaughn that was reaching her right now. He was the sole exception to her shyness, and she had absolutely no idea why. She simply saw him once when she was out in town and could tell that he was really shy like she was. This inspired her to try and open him up to other people, even though she couldn't do it by herself anyway. Something about him just made her feel more confident.

She picked up her phone and looked at it. She needed a break from this work.

_Hey. Just letting you know that I'll be in town tomorrow._

She smiled at this and texted him back.

_Yay! :D Wanna make plans on what to do?_

_Not too sure if I can stick around. I kind of need to make some deals with Mirabelle and scoot along._

_What? How come? :(_

_Have to head up to Zephyr Town to do business after confirming some things with Mirabelle. That town's up north and I can't take too long to get there._

By now, Sabrina's hopeful smile was now a crushed frown. Vaughn only came around every week or two, and he was really the only person she considered a friend. The next best thing was her cousin Will. While she admired his attempts to become more attuned with a simple life after his sheltered upbringing, his interests and personality were still a bit too much for her tastes.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when her phone vibrated in her hands once more. She had spaced out instead of replying to Vaughn.

_You there? Sorry... but you know how work is._

_Yeah. It just sucks -_- I guess I'll get to see you tomorrow at least._

_You bet._

Sabrina sighed and set her phone back down on the desk. Now she _really_ didn't feel like going back to her work, but she wanted to get things out of the way as soon as possible now. She returned to her computer and began to type once more, but it soon became apparent that she needed some music to keep her focused.

She returned to her phone and browsed the music she had put on it, for her work computer had no speakers. She had a fair amount of music on her phone, so it took a bit of browsing before something caught her eye. She hadn't listened to Charles Mingus in a while...

She set down her phone as the album _Mingus Ah Um_ began to play. Hopefully she would get done with her work before the album finished, but when it came to jazz she had an equal chance of the music inspiring her or sucking her away.

To her mild surprise, the music ended up being a great success, allowing her to finish her accounting with time to spare. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, taking a breather to relax until the album concluded.

Now she had the rest of the day to herself. Any other person her age on the islands would surely spend it outside, but Sabrina would rather get comfortable with a nice book than be out in the world by herself. Heaven forbid she go out in town with her father- he'd do nothing but boast about her all day to other people!

So she walked over to her designated reading chair near the bookshelf in her room. She had recently acquired an anthology of Edgar Allan Poe's works that she was rather enjoying. She had always meant to get around to reading his works one day, but she was convinced to get an anthology from her friend Dia in the town of Leaf Valley.

Well... she had never met Dia in person. She only knew her from phone conversations. Her father had been good friends with the owners of the Clove Villa in Leaf Valley, who was Dia's mother. Sabrina had many things in common with Dia: they were both very shy shut-ins with a fondness of reading that had rich, divorced parents. Dia sounded like she had a more fanciful upbringing since her villa had two dedicated maids, but she definitely was having a rough time recently. Her mother had passed away and she became rather sickly and bedridden since. So Regis made sure that Sabrina would make friends with this girl to try and bring some cheer to her dreary life.

It had worked. Somewhat. From their conversations, it sounded like Dia's health had been improving, but it was clear that the illness afflicting her was not just from stress. It was also clear that she had cheered up quite a bit since her father hooked them up from the way he talked about how Dia was before things, but the girl had a bit of a transfixion on the macabre.

_Phew. Done with work for the day. Time to pick up Poe again ;)_

Sabrina set her phone on the arm of the chair and opened up the book at the bookmarked spot. She was about to start reading until she heard her phone vibrate. She picked it up to see Dia's response.

_Which tale are you about to read?_

_The Pit and the Pendulum._

_That's one of my favorites! Let me know what you think after you've read it._

With Dia's blessing, Sabrina eagerly began to dig into the story, quickly becoming enveloped by its words and imagery. She was promptly dragged out of the tale right as it was getting good when her dad entered the room.

"Heya, darling!" Regis greeted her. "We have a bit of a problem."

"Ugh!" Sabrina exclaimed indignantly as she set the book down and glared at her father. "Yes we do! The problem is you barging in here without any warning!"

"Sorry, hun, but I just got word from both Isaac and Slater that they're real sick! I don't think they'll be able to work the mines tomorrow! It could be a while before they get better..."

"It should have been obvious that you needed more miners than those two! Now you know why!" Sabrina shouted. "This isn't my problem! Now, if you'll excuse me, I was in the middle of something..." she grumbled, picking her book back up.

"Yes, dear. Sorry to bother you..." Regis said with a sigh as he slowly slid out of her room.

Sabrina grumbled insults under her breath as she picked back her book and attempted to get immersed in the story once more. This was proving difficult, as her mind kept going back to business. There was a reason for having the company headquarters on the archipelago other than as a getaway- the mines were very rich in all kinds of minerals and metals. Her father's excuse for not hiring more workers was always that there wasn't enough living place. He didn't want to transform these peaceful islands into an industrial town. Or, as she always pointed out, he could simply make some of the rooms in the manor or even Carol's inn available for more workers. But no, build two houses for them on Verdure Island and then stop, despite there being plenty of room on the other islands.

She growled in frustration as she tried to shake off those thoughts and get back to her book. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself while closing her eyes. With the anger pushed out of her, she went back to reading...

_Why didn't you warn me how vivid it was going to be! I felt like I was strapped down! ;_;_

_Glad to see you enjoyed it._

_Other than the weird setting anachronisms. But I'll only like it if it doesn't give me nightmares tonight :p_

_You're a real softie, Sabrina. I haven't even introduced you to Stephen King yet._

_Let me recover from Poe first! D:  
_

Her talk with Dia continued, and upon ending, Sabrina decided to press on with Poe instead of calling it quits for the day. She became enraptured by the anthology for the rest of the day, and she finished it before going to bed for the night.

Sabrina was a bit fitful trying to fall asleep that night, with the vivid images that Poe had painted in her mind both tormenting and mystifying her. She knew not when she fell asleep, but oddly enough she would have no dreams, good nor bad, during the night. What she would never expect would be the nightmare that would slowly unravel itself the next day...


	6. Starlight Fantasy

Corpse Harvest: The Scourge, Chapter 6:

Lanna pounded on the keys of her piano in frustration, grunting angrily as she did so. While she had bought a home on this small archipelago to get away from the hassle her sudden fame was bringing her, she certainly didn't want to quit making any music. She was just in a creative slump at the moment. She was in constant search for the key that made "Starlight Fantasy" such a success.

She never thought that her first album would rocket up the charts like that. It was all because of that song, and she honestly had no idea why it was so popular in the first place. The relaxation this island gave her was a ticket to another hit in her mind, but nothing was coming to her.

It perplexed her why this island wasn't giving her an idea for a new song. The gentle rolling waves, gorgeous sunsets, and tropical surrounds brought her such inner peace, but they were not acting as her muse despite their apparent source of artistic light.

Not all hope was lost. There was another slight incentive for moving to a place surrounded by water, and that was fishing. Her father used to take her fishing all the time when she was a small child. That was before they moved to the city with not a fishing spot for miles around. Maybe it was the childhood memories that soothed her, but fishing always made her feel at peace. Fishing off of piers or at the beach didn't give her any musical inspiration, but today was different.

Today she was going to sail out into the ocean with the fishermen of the island. She wasn't too familiar with two of the three fishermen, but she had become fast friends with the third. Denny was refreshingly down to earth, very kind, and he was mostly ignorant of her music career. Before she became famous, she would not have viewed that as a positive quality. But now that she was trying to hide from the spotlight, it was nice to meet someone that could see her as a person and not as a celebrity. "Starlight Fantasy" was well-known even in a small, secluded village like the Sunshine Archipelago.

Lanna had finished her hastily-made breakfast of bacon and eggs and decided to stop musing about her current situation. Instead, she looked forward to what today would bring. Denny said that she didn't need to bring any equipment, so she left her house and headed to Nick's diner. Denny told her that he and the other fishermen would be having breakfast there before heading out and that she should show up by eight sharp.

When she entered the diner, she received a hearty wave from Denny and halfhearted ones from the other two fishermen at the table. Now that she saw their faces, she remembered just who they were. They were Martin and Ray, brothers who lived on opposite islands from each other. She occasionally bumped into them while fishing on the beaches.

"I get here on time and you are all still eating?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Hey, relax; we have plenty of time in the day! Don't worry!" Martin interjected.

"We're almost done," Ray sheepishly added.

"It's fine, Lanna. My boat's already loaded up with all the needed gear and is waiting at the pier. It just took a bit longer than expected to get ready, that's all," Denny assured.

"Okay, fine! Stop ganging up on me!" Lanna exclaimed in a huff as she crossed her arms. She impatiently tapped her foot as she waited for the men to finish breakfast. To her disappointment, Denny's boat was not all loaded up once they walked to the pier. It looked like Ray had forgotten something, so he had to run back to his house and get it. He lived on the other island.

"Hey, don't stress yourself out so soon. We're going fishing, after all! You need plenty of patience for that!" Denny called out with a bright smile when he noticed Lanna's disappointed look.

"I suppose you're right..." she admitted with a sigh. She was going to mention that she was angry at them for lying about being ready _twice_, but she felt that would just invite teasing from Martin.

"Sorry about that!" Ray called out as he could be seen running up to the boat in the distance, a tackle box in his hand.

"I can't believe you forgot the lures..." Martin grumbled as his brother climbed on the ship. Lanna also got on board, taking a seat as Denny began to rev up to motor. The two fishermen brothers prepared the poles and lures as the motor came to life and Denny untied the boat from the pier.

Lanna watched as the islands she called home become smaller and smaller as they sailed out into the sea. To think that so many people lived their lives on such a tiny space. Soon the only thing visible was the mainland in the horizon and part of the bridge that connected it to the Sunshine Archipelago. The motor quieted down as they slowed to a stop.

Martin distributed the fishing poles to the group, and it was not long before the bait was cast into the water. Lanna sat down, marveling at how much more active the ocean was compared to a lake. Slow and methodic waves rocked the boat up and down as she patiently waited for a bite.

"All right! Got one!" Ray exclaimed after several minutes of waiting. This pattern of long periods of silence interrupted by a catch would continue for quite a while. Everyone would get a fair amount of fish to catch. Everyone except Lanna, that is, who only had a single nibble to show.

"Oh, come on! This isn't fair! How come the fish all like you three?" she cried with exasperation.

"I don't know what to say. You're just having bad luck," Denny said with a half-sympathetic shrug.

"You just have to know the right technique," Martin said with a smug grin.

"Of course a celebrity wouldn't know something like that!" Ray chimed in. Lanna furrowed her brow and frowned at the two brothers, who turned back to the sea.

"Stupid fishermen... I'll show them..." she grumbled under her breath.

"Yes! Another one!" Martin shouted.

"Oh, _come on!_" Lanna yelled, tossing her fishing pole besides her in frustration. As she did so, her line got a bite. She yelped as she scrambled to grab the pole, but the fish on the other end was rather hungry despite getting hooked. As she reached for the pole, her heart sank as it was pulled off of the boat and into the water.

"Are you serious!?" Lanna growled in frustration. Martin and Ray laughing at her wasn't helping her mood at all.

"Guys, knock it off. She's having a bad day," Denny said, unimpressed by his friends mocking Lanna.

"You're going to let that slide? She lost one of your fishing poles, dude!" Ray said with disbelief.

"Yeah, let it slide like she did that pole, am I right?" Martin said with a cheeky smile as he jabbed his brother with his elbow, prompting further laughter from the two.

"I am going to throw both of you off of this boat!" Lanna indignantly exclaimed. She was about to move to do so, but was jolted back to her seat as the motor of the boat suddenly came to life as Denny began to turn the boat around back towards the islands.

"Whoa! What the hell, dude?" Ray asked.

"I think that's enough fishing for today," Denny said lowly. "There's no point in keeping this up if you're going to suck all the fun out of things by making fun of Lanna."

Martin and Ray began to protest Denny's actions, but he remained stoic in face of their complaints. Lanna took some deep breaths and composed herself. She was glad that the heat was finally off of her. What a waste of time this fishing trip turned out to be...

It wasn't long before they were back on the docks. Martin and Ray had already gathered up their gear and fish and walked off in a huff. Lanna stared down at her feet as Denny began gathering his things.

"What a disaster..." Lanna mumbled. She looked up at Denny. "I'm so sorry for losing one of your fishing poles..."

"Hey, don't sweat it. I have plenty of those," Denny said with a smile. "I don't want your whole day to be a waste, so how about you come by my place so we can have dinner?"

"Really? You're not mad?" Lanna asked.

"Not at all. Besides, I caught more than enough fish for me. I have to share the rest with someone."

"...I'd like that."

Denny handed Lanna some of his equipment as he took the rest off of his boat. His house wasn't very far away at all, so taking a large bundle of things wasn't that big of a deal. Once inside of his shack, Denny placed his things down and Lanna followed suit. Denny then picked up the cooler that contained his catches and walked over to his kitchen.

"Make yourself at home," Denny said as he started to prepare the fish. Lanna sat down at the table and looked around the humble home. From what she could see, most of the house was this one room. There was a door in the back of the house, where she suspected the bathroom would be. What got her attention was a large swordfish mounted on the wall.

"Did you catch that?" she asked.

"Hm? Oh, yeah!" Denny exclaimed as he glanced towards what Lanna was looking at. "Caught it around these islands about two years ago. That was an exciting catch."

"It must have been..." Lanna said wistfully, drifting off into a daydream of what it would be like to catch such a massive fish.

"Look... sorry about how the guys treated you back there. It's usually just us three and they don't know how to properly behave around a guest," Denny said, misinterpreting Lanna's tone.

"Ugh, the less I'm reminded of them, the better," she said with disgust, snapping out of her dream.

"And treating a star like you in that manner..." Denny sighed.

"Please, I'm no star."

"But you had that big hit and everything! You moved here to get away from the fame, right?"

"Sort of... I also came to a place like this to try and get inspiration for another song. Nothing's come to me. Maybe it was just luck that I became famous..."

"Hey, don't talk like that! At least you have something to fall back on. Me? I just fish around here. That's all I'm good at," Denny said glumly.

"You could join a fishing crew and get paid to do that," Lanna suggested.

"Yeah, but that's in the city. I like it here."

"I know what you mean..."

The two continued talking about whatever came to mind as Denny continued to prepare dinner. His pet bird, Popper, decided to butt in with a few nonsensical comments every now and then. The fact that his bird talked greatly amused Lanna, but Denny just found it annoying.

Eventually Denny had finally cooked the fish he had caught, and the two had dinner. Denny felt he had warmed up enough to Lanna to ask her something that had been nagging him since they first met. He felt a bit sick, so he figured it was the apprehension getting to him.

"Say... do you want to go stargazing after this?" he asked, glancing outside a window to confirm that the sun had already set.

"Oh? What brings this up?" she asked.

"I never really heard your big hit, but I know from the people here that it's about the stars. Have you seen the stars here at night?"

"Actually... no, I haven't. I've been looking for inspiration elsewhere since my song was called 'Starlight Fantasy,'" she admitted.

"You haven't even seen the night sky until you get away from the city to a secluded place like here," Denny said with a bright smile.

"Really now? This better impress me," Lanna said playfully. Denny felt some pressure fall off of his shoulders as she accepted his advances. He always had an eye for the star ever since she arrived at the islands, and he never thought that she'd be down to earth enough to speak with someone like him.

The two finished dinner and headed out Denny's back door into a little clearing that served as a small yard. Denny walked over to a lone palm tree with a thick trunk and sat down, leaning up against it. Lanna joined his side, and they both looked up at the night sky.

"Wow..." Lanna breathed. Denny was completely right. She had to get to a smaller town to see enough of the night sky in the first place to inspire her to make "Starlight Fantasy," but out here, where the only lights were from closed homes? There were so many stars that she couldn't even imagine were there before.

"You were right. This is magical! If only I hadn't already written a song about a romance under the night sky..." Lanna said with excitement. Denny did not respond, and she looked over at him with confusion. He seemed really drowsy and languid all of a sudden.

"Denny? Is something wrong?" she asked as she lightly shook him. He quietly groaned as she stirred him, and he slowly raised an arm and tightly grabbed her shoulder.

"Denny, that hurts! What's gotten into you?" she continued with concern as she looked at the force of his grip. She glanced back up at his face, and her blood ran cold as she saw that his eyes were now entirely white.

She was about to say that this joke he was playing on her wasn't funny, but she didn't get the chance to speak as Denny forced her to the ground as he got on top of her, his other hand on one of her breasts. She struggled against him, screaming in fear as she tried to kick him off of her, but it didn't help. The screams of fear were replaced by shrieks of pain as he sank his teeth into her neck...


End file.
